Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking: Authentic Recipes from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa

My partner and I got this cookbook as a way to start eating the "Mediterranean Diet". Since then I have bought several copies and given them to family and friends. I have yet to find a recipe that did not taste absolutely fabulous!! It stays in my kitchen on the bookstand ready to be used at moments notice. The other cookbooks are on the shelf. Definately recommend this cookbook!!

Mediterranean food has had a huge impact on how the rest of the world eats. The previous review had criticized this book for focusing too much on the foods of a few particular countries, but I am sure that Williams-Sonoma did want this book to appeal to the average American consumer. The previous reviewer is correct that there are a lot of Spanish, French, Italian, and Greek recipes in this book but I in no way see that as a bad thing. These are the recipes and ingredients that I am most familiar with, and the foods I cook most of the time. I do realize that there are numerous other cultures and foods that are Mediterrean, and I would love to know how to cook them. Unfortunately, too often when I see recipes that require exotic ingredients or unfamiliar cooking techniques these recipes become "fantasy foods" - foods I would seek out in a restaurant in a big city but not actually cook at home on a regular basis. I would cook almost all of the recipes in this book and that is why I think it is a very good Mediterranean cookbook. Maybe ten years from now there will be numerous Turkish grocery stores and restaurants even in places like New Mexico - and that would be a great thing! And maybe at that time this book will seem ethnocentric and very limited in its scope. But for now I think this cookbook was very well done. The recipes are precise, tasty, and well-photographed like most other Williams-Sonoma cookbooks.